How to Succeed in Majors’ Biology Lab
Welcome to Freshman Biology
Welcome to this first quarter of the science majors’ biology lab sequence. We know that students like to do well in their courses. In order to help you do well in this course, the following guidelines have been prepared. Students who adhere to these quidelines will be much more likely to succeed in this course.
Prerequisites
There are prerequisites for this course. These prerequisites are not there to keep students out of the course, but rather to tell you what background you need to have in order to understand the material presented in this course. Students who lack the appropriate background knowledge will find the material presented in this course to be difficult, if not impossible, to understand. However, the University of Cincinnati recently implemented a new computer system to keep track of courses, registration, etc., and only built into that system the ability to list other UC courses as prerequisites. Thus, while these prerequisites still stand, the new system allows no way to notify you of these in any of the University’s official publications. It is assumed that students in this science-majors’ course have successfully completed high-school biology, chemistry, and algebra. The purpose of this course is not to re-introduce the basic concepts learned in those courses, but to build on that foundation. There is not time in this course to re-explain terminology, concepts, and mathematical calculations which students should know before enrolling.
If you lack these prerequisites, it is in your own best interest to not attempt to take this course at this time. In the past, students who had thought this didn’t apply to them and that they were exceptions and could “handle it” have ended up either withdrawing or failing. You will do much better if you first take the time to prepare yourself properly to take this course. If you cannot read at a college level, you won’t be able to understand the text book for the accompanying lecture course or the lab protocols for this course, so any needed developmental reading and/or English courses should be completed first. Any needed developmental math courses should also be completed before taking this course: you will be expected to perform college-level mathematical calculations in this course. If you have not had high-school biology and/or chemistry, you should take at least one quarter of General Biology and/or General Chemistry, as needed, before attempting this course. If you have had no high-school nor junior-high science courses (and are taking other developmental courses), you may need to take a Developmental Science course before attempting General Biology or General Chemistry. See an academic advisor (Dr. Peggy Hager is the academic advisor for science majors) or the Learning Center staff for further guidance and information.
Time Committment
In order to do well in this course, you will need to spend an appropriate amount of time doing homework. As a national, if not international “given,” college students are expected to spend at least two hours out of class on preparation and homework for every hour spent in class, thus a student carrying 12 credit hours should plan to spend a minimum of 24 hr/wk doing homework. Consider that 12 + 24 = 36 hr — roughly the equivalent of a 40-hr work week. That means that a person who is attempting to get 8 hr of sleep a night has about 8 hr/da, total, to spend on preparing and eating meals, traveling to/from school, working at a job (to pay for school), and/or caring for children. Since this is a 2-cr course that, typical of most lab courses, meets for 4 hr/wk, you should plan on devoting four to eight hours per week to homework for this course – yes, YOU. In order to do well in this class, you will need to set your priorities and schedule such that you are able to spend an appropriate amount of time, outside of class, working on class-related things. If you are trying to work a full-time job (possibly along with the responsibility of being a full-time, single parent) as well as trying to be a full-time student, and are planning on spending a weekly total of only four or five hours on homework for all of your classes, then in all likelihood, that lack of study time will end up being reflected in your grades. If you’re concerned about getting high grades, then you must be able to make a time committment equal to that. If you have a job and/or family responsibilities that prevent you from spending an amount of time which corresponds to the course load for which you are registered, you should reduce your course load to reflect the amount of homework time you have available. While it is true that it might take longer to get your degree that way, chances are that the grades on your transcript will probably end up being higher. Past students who had thought they were different and could get by with less (or no) study time have ended up withdrawing or failing the course. Almost to a person, those who have needed to withdraw due to lack of sufficient study time have commented they thought they were different, thought they could “handle it,” but found out the “hard way” that to do well requires adequate time.
A portion of the grade in this course is based on demonstrated good record-keeping and documentation skills – necessary, but sometimes time-consuming tasks in any biological or medical field. This is not a “fluff” course. This is not a course to take if all you’re looking for in college is easy “A”s. If you don’t have the time, the interest, or the self-discipline right now to devote to such tasks, you would be better off, gradewise, to wait until you can devote the needed time and/or energy to this course. If you are mentally at a point in your life where you are feeling burned out on school, would rather be doing other things than studying for classes, or are unsure of where you want to go from here, that’s OK, but then you should consider pursuing those activities now. You can always come back and take classes later when you are feeling more motivated to be here. To do well in this, or many of your other classes, you need to be mentally, psychologically ready to tackle the workload. Remember, your transcripts are “forever.”
Your Classmates
One comment often voiced by frustrated students is, “I got an ‘A’ in high-school biology. What’s wrong with you (the instructor) because I have a ‘B’ (or ‘C’) average in this class?” If you got an “A” in high-school biology, good for you! If you hadn’t gotten that “A,” you would probably really be struggling to understand this course and the accompanying lecture. There is one big difference between this course and your high-school course. In high school courses, “everybody” is required to take those courses whether they want to or not. Thus, there were probably a number of students in your high-school biology course who didn’t want to be there, and who didn’t care about studying for that class or what grades they got in that class. That probably helped make it easier for you to do well in that class, perhaps without putting forth your full effort. In contrast, in this course everybody else in the course is a biology major who got an “A” in their high-school course, just like you did. Not all of you will get “A”s in this class. Only those people who are the top of the biology majors will get “A”s, others who are above average will get “B”s, and those people who are average biology majors will get “C”s.
Course Topics
You will enjoy this course much more if you give up any preconceived notions you may have about what you think this course should not cover. Yes, we know some of you are Pre-Med or Pre-Pharm, but that does not include everyone in the class. There are others who want to become marine biologists, veterinarians, park rangers, ecologists, field biologists, high-school biology teachers, geneticists, molecular biologists, or botanists. This course was designed to provide an introduction to a broad spectrum of biological topics and as a foundation for everyone going into any kind of biology-related career. As such, over the course of the school year, this course sequence will include a survey of a wide variety of biological topics that pertain to a wide variety of biology-related careers. Yes, we’ll be covering some biochemistry and anatomy-type topics, but we will also be covering field biology and learning about the plants and animals that surround us. All of these topics are valid parts of the study of biology. Even doctors and pharmacists don’t spend all their time working, and sometime when you’re at a park with your family, you (or they) just might wish you knew the name of “that flower over there.” Additionally, much current pharmaceutical research is focusing on potential drugs found in plants, for which a knowledge of the plants, themselves, is needed. Allow yourself to enjoy this course by experiencing the delight, the wonder, the “ah-ha!” of discovering something you didn’t know before.
One of the goals of any freshman-level, survey-of-biology course is to expose students to a taste of a wide variety of biology-related topics. As mentioned above, the students enrolled in this course have a wide variety of biology-related interests. On the other hand, we’ve seen past students who, when exposed to a “new” topic, suddenly discover that topic is of great interest to them, to the extent that they end up changing their major and career plans. Administrators and biology faculty from Clermont are in dialogue with our counterparts at Clifton and NKU, as well as other schools, so we are aware of what other schools consider to be “normal” course topics for a freshman, biology-majors course. Based on that knowledge, we strive to structure our courses so that they will transfer, and you won’t have to re-take the courses after you transfer elsewhere.
Grades
Many of you have, no doubt, heard that places like College of Pharmacy or the Med School are very selective. There are a lot of other people in this class who also are hoping to be accepted by the College of Pharmacy, and quite frankly, not everyone who wants to go there will end up being accepted. We have often heard students tell us, “You have to give me an A so I can get into Pharmacy School.” Please be aware that the purpose of this course is NOT to give everyone “A”s so you can all end up there. Realize that if we would give you all “A”s, the Med School and College of Pharmacy would deem those grades to be meaningless and refuse to accept anyone from Clermont. College of Pharmacy and Med School don’t want “A”s just for the sake of the grades themselves, but rather, use those grades as signs that students have successfully mastered and know the material covered in this course. Pharmacy school is hard work, and the folks down there who decide which students get admitted are looking for students who are the most likely to survive in Pharmacy School if they are admitted. They are looking for students who have a thorough background knowledge, upon which they can build in the further courses that will be required down there. Thus, they are not looking for “A students” just because they got As, but rather those folks are using students’ grades as an indication of what they’ve learned and how well they’ve learned it.
Thus, your job, while you are here, is NOT to get an “A” at any cost, but to work your hardest to absorb/learn/understand everything you can, because if you are one of those fortunate-enough to be admitted, you will need this information as a foundation for the topics covered in your classes “down there,” so that you might survive in Pharmacy School (or wherever you’re headed). It is not my job to give you an A so you can get in, but rather, it is your job to work your hardest to learn and master an A’s-worth of course material. Cheating won’t allow you to learn the background material you need, and even if you aren’t caught here, that will catch up to you in future classes for which you are not prepared. Besides, would you want that kind of a pharmacist or doctor caring for you and your family? Rather, focus on enjoying the course, learn as much as you can, earn the best grade you are honestly capable of earning, and don’t make yourself and everyone around you miserable by focusing only on grades.
Career Choices and What’s “Plan B?”
As a corollary to that, despite everyone’s glorious plans for their futures, the reality is that not everyone in this class who wants to go to College of Pharmacy will end up getting in. Thus, while I wish you all the best of luck, the reality is that each and every one of you needs to start thinking and planning, now about what will be “Plan B,” just in case. Don’t just assume you will, obviously, be one of those who gets in, because everyone else in the class is thinking the same thing. What’s “Plan B?”
Another comment frequently made by students is, “I want to be a pharmacist because they make lots of money.” That’s a really bad reason for chosing any career. The Beatles sang a song which included the lyrics, “Money can’t buy you love.” If you try to make a career out of a job you hate, just because you make lots of money, you will go through life miserable and unhappy. To feel satisfied, rewarded, fulfilled, and happy in your job and your life in general, you must choose a career based upon “what turns you on,” whatever you find interesting and emotionally-stimulating, whatever you enjoy doing.
Prepare for Future Classes
I can tell you that, over the years, many past students, while enrolled in these courses, have said (complained?) that the work needed to maintain their lab notebooks has not been “hard” work, but has required a significant amount of discipline to spend the time required. However, to a person, every graduate who has returned for a visit has told us stories of how much better prepared they were, how much farther ahead of their classmates in upper-division courses, because of the discipline of having to keep lab notebooks for Clermont biology courses. One former student, now a high-school biology teacher, requires her students to also keep lab notebooks.
Final Words
Please weigh your options and your level of commitment carefully. If you have the proper background knowledge for this course, if you are willing to put the necessary time into preparation and homework, if you’re curious, inquisitive, and interested in learning more about the living world around you, and if you’re willing to work hard and try your best to learn the most you can and have fun doing it, your chances of succeeding in this course are greatly increased.
Other Things to Include in Your Notebook
Make sure you have all of the following in your lab notebook: